Friday, May 5, 2023
The CSAAA was approached by the Federal Government in 2022 to discuss their plans to implement a “buyback” program for inventory impacted by the 2020 OIC. We were provided two options: allow this program to be contracted out to an independent company (such as IBM) or sign a contract permitting the CSAAA to represent businesses to ensure appropriate compensation for their dead stock/prohibited inventory.
CSAAA made it clear that we would have zero involvement with individually owned firearms. This is simply for businesses that need or want fair compensation for their unsellable firearms. Based on the wildly low compensation offered for civilian-owned firearms (provided by IBM), we were uncomfortable leaving any value decisions up to those with zero knowledge of our industry.
Due to privacy laws, the RCMP will initially contact all non-CSAAA member businesses to ask permission to share contact info with the CSAAA. We will hire staff to reach out to all businesses that agreed to be contacted to ask if they would like to participate in this ‘buyback.’ If the business answers yes, our team will work with that business to gather all inventory data – we will then report this info to the Federal Government to arrange for further processing. If the business does not want to participate, we will simply note this on the report shared with the Federal Government. Participation is completely optional.
The federal budget has allocated up to $700K for this program to be implemented. All data collection costs for staff, office space, insurance, hardware, etc. must be demonstrated to the Federal government for the CSAAA to receive compensation.
No information has been gathered or shared with the Federal Government. Nor have we received any funds. We remain very skeptical as to the validity of this program, as the Public Safety Minister made a huge deal out of the announcement before the program is even finalized. Program details for collection and compensation are yet to be decided by Public Safety.
Signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement was required; we were unable to share any contract details publicly until the Public Safety Minister made his announcement. We were cautioned that there was no control over how or when this statement would be made public. The language used in this very public announcement was intended to be divisive and has worked exactly how it was intended.
We continue to discourage/fight these unjust prohibitions. The benefits to this contract are that we are finally able to have real conversations and consult with the people that form these laws and hopefully, we can try to make more of a difference in this fight. Simply working with friendly Governmental groups will not effect any change – we must engage with the political parties and organizations that oppose us.
The CSAAA is made up of an elected, volunteer board of industry stakeholders so passionate about the hunting and firearms industry that they donate countless hours and resources promoting and protecting these businesses. Many of our board member businesses are among the largest financial contributors to the organization.
In 2017, we developed a mandate to attain industry self-regulation; as any,other major industry has done. Our stakeholders must have a voice to ensure our future; if we leave important decisions to the uninformed or opposed, the results will be highly detrimental to our industry. The accusations and ridicule this board received in working towards this milestone are short-sighted and ill-founded.
We strongly support the current lawsuits and hope for an outcome where this retailer compensation program is not needed at all.
CSAAA Board of Directors
Jenn Gadbois, Managing Director